Thursday, May 7, 2015

Human Enhancement Trends

The advances of technology, especially the ones
that seem to encroach on human abilities, often seem objectionable and even
"against nature" – till they become commonplace.

Common enhancements today

I remember seeing a movie about
an aging, shortsighted gunfighter, quick on the draw. He was losing his
eyesight till a nerdy dude arrived from somewhere out east and provided him with
spectacles – which, of course, restored his sharpshooter prowess. Hey, if you remember the name of that old movie, please let me know. I'd like to watch it again.

Today, approximately 75% of
adults use some sort of vision correction. So, it's considered normal.

How about taking pills to
improve your health? How normal is that? Well, it's acceptable – until it turns
out to be a steroid that actually enhances human performance in sports. Then it’s
illegal and grounds for being disqualified.(1)So, should steroid use be acceptable for
humans in combat? Would it be OK to give steroids to our troops? (2)
These are all questions. Your answers are as good as mine.

Artificial Intelligence

Let's go off in another
direction. Artificial Intelligence (AI) usually refers to machine intelligence.
The inverse, Intelligence Augmentation (IA) slips into everyday use much more
quickly, providing users with "unfair" advantages. When anyone asks
me something – almost anything – I simply consult my Google-connected smart-phone
and provide the answer. Is that a fair test of my knowledge and intelligence?

So, should a student be allowed
to use a smart-phone in a test? Or, use Google-glasses? Don't be too quick to
answer because within the next few years microchips will be inserted into the
body, with effects similar to "brain steroids"? Who will know?

Chip implants present some
intriguing possibilities and ethical concerns. But, my feeling is that
increasingly common usage will sweep away objections. This trend will start
with volunteers and people who would benefit directly, and then become
commonplace.

Increasing human
abilities

Technology continues to give humans what seem like
superpowers. Human enhancement technologies (HET) are not just simply for
treating illness and disabilities, but also for enhancing human abilities beyond
the existing human range.

For some, HET includes the convergence of nanotechnology,
biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science to improve human
performance. Cochlear implants can restore some hearing for the deaf. Many
scientists and researchers are working on restoring vision for the blind.

A lot of progress has been made in the genetic engineering
arena. This will not be addressed in this blog because changes in human genetic enhancement
take place slowly; genetically engineered human children typically take several
decades to grow to adulthood.

Smart Gadgets

There are now 4 billion mobile phones in use worldwide. The
super-computer of yesteryear is now in everyone’s hands. Do you use a
smart-phone? Has it changed your life? When you go to a restaurant, have you noticed
how many people are staring at their phones? This has become invasive and many
think it is ruing the quality of life.

Indeed, this is the very reasonfor the introduction of the Apple
Watch. This new gadget has been very carefully planned to enhance the
user’s life to make the best use of its size and location on the wrist. It has
new interactions and technologies to let people do familiar things more quickly
and conveniently, plus some things that simply weren’t possible before. So
using it is expected to be a whole new personal experience. (3)

Hey, I’ve already ordered my Apple Watch and it should arrive within the next couple of weeks.

Wearable technology is becoming common - body temperature, blood
pressure, electro-cardiograms and other sensors. In Time magazine's March 25
2013 issue, "Wear Your Doctor"
is one of their "10 Big Ideas".
(4)

Prosthetics

Prosthetic limbs are becoming more advanced, allowing people
who've lost a limb to live more normal lives. Oscar Pistorius, the South
African sprint runner, had both his legs amputated below the knee when he was
11 months old. Still, he competed and won against regular (non-disabled) athletes.

The International Athletics Federation has banned some
artificial limbs because of unfair advantage. (5) So, when
artificial organs are not visible, will they become acceptable? Or, will
testing for prosthetics become as common as steroid testing?

Muscle Augmentation

Muscle augmentation will soon be common. The military is
working on Spider-Man suits that enable wearers to scale vertical walls.
Advanced robotic suits enable workers to lift heavy loads. (6)(7)

Future neural implants could allow humans to manipulate
real-world objects with their minds. Researchers demonstrated how a
quadriplegic woman used electrodes in her motor cortex to feed herself
chocolate with a robotic arm. (8)

Mental Enhancement

On the medical side, mental "enhancers" and
physical stimulants are becoming fairly common. (9) Today, many
office workers start each day with a dose of caffeine or other energy-boosting
drinks. There are pills and drinks to enhance cognition, mood, personality,
physical performance, and even the biological processes of aging. (10)

Drugs and digital technologies are already allowing people
to work harder, longer, and smarter. Soon, it may even be possible that
employers will start to demand (implicitly or explicitly) that employees
"augment" themselves with stimulants. The resulting implications to
work and human values raises serious ethical concerns. Many bioethicists suggest
that at least some of these regenerative medicines and enhancement technology
developments should be regulated. (11)

Eliminating the Need
for Humans

As I write this, millions of entrepreneurs, engineers,
scientists, corporations and universities and are racing to create self-driving
cars, automated call centers, chess-playing and Jeopardy-playing computers that
beat all human players. The frightening thing is that this kind of artificial
intelligence will soon eliminate low-skilled human jobs in startling numbers. This
wave is approaching from the other direction.

The first wave of unemployed workers will be millions of taxi
and truck drivers who will be replaced by self-driving trucks. The human
frailty and unpredictability of pilots will soon be eliminated. As new computer
vision systems come online, we will see tens of millions of workers in retail
stores, fast food restaurants and construction sites replaced by robots. There
increasingly be tens of millions of workers who are unemployed and seeking
welfare.

Marshall Brain (yes, that’s his real name, Brain) has just published
a new book, “The Second Intelligent Species:
How Humans Will Become as Irrelevant as Cockroaches”. (12) This
book explores how the future will unfold as the second intelligent species
emerges.

Where is this going?

How will this all unfold in the next couple of decades? My
youngest grandson will be a teenager, and my other grandchildren will be twenty-something.

What's your view?

Let’s Engage

Don’t just read passively. Please answer the following
questions directly in the blog. Include your own comments and ideas.

Do you use a smart-phone?
Has it changed your habits? Will
you buy an Apple Watch?

1. Yes, Yes, No2. No3. No4. No5. No6. This process is currently occurring, my est. is that within the next 5-10 years it will become much more noticeable.7.No. Probably not possible8. As random, chaotic events mostly driven by the potential for making a profit.Ref. you example of truck drivers, under capitalism any activity that reduces cost is a positive.

1. Do you use a smart-phone? Yes. Will you buy an Apple Watch? Not till I figure out why I need one. (So far, I’ve seen NOTHING to move me in that direction!)

2. Do you take performance-enhancing pills? Daily? Weekly? No, never.

3. Do you drink energy-boosters? No. Are they addictive? N/A (I do drink a cup of coffee in the AM, not b/c I need caffeine — I just like the taste of good coffee!)

4. Do you combat your own mood swings with pills? No, never.

5. Does the trend to accelerating human-augmentation concern you? No. It’s been going on* for decades. Why would it stop?

6. Will the need for ordinary jobs be eliminated? Yes. When? This started 2+ decades ago with automotive welding & painting robots. It’s a continuum — not anything new.

7. Q: Are these trends moving too fast? A: How can we stop them?

8. How do YOU see the future unfolding? Faster & faster as technology ramps up faster & faster — no end on sight!

*About 30 years ago I read an article in OMNI magazine (Do you remember it? A great magazine published by… little known fact: Bob Guccione… of PENTHOUSE fame!).

The article predicted that the ‘next generation’ of ICs would be designed not by engineers, but by biologists and chemists, simply by creating a formula — a ‘recipe’ if you will. And, rather than having to be ‘laid out’ by a chip designer, they would instead be created by producing a microbial compound with the ‘DNA’ of the desired ‘circuit’ and then doping it with a catalyst that would trigger it to ‘grow’ autonomously into the desired circuit functionality.

Then, once produced, it would be powered by a ‘protein’ battery since it would be 100% organic (stem cell material, perhaps). So, creating a pacemaker, for example — or even an entirely new heart — would be a simple matter of creating the right chemical compound — today, maybe even ‘printing’ it — and implanting it in the body. However, there would be no need for a conventional battery as it would run on normally produced human protein.

I think we have — or will soon have — all of the pieces needed for this to work.

Welcome to the age of the REAL 6 Million Dollar (Bionic) Man – and/or Woman! (Who knew that Guccione was a futurist and not merely a porn pioneer?!)

1 Yes to the smart phone, maybe to the watch.2 No3 only Green Smoothies4 No5 No 6 Perhaps, many jobs likely will be eliminated, but also jobs are being created by advancements7 Why would we want to stop advancement?8 If we ever stop fighting with each other, the only limit to what is possible is our imagination.

1. Do you use a smart-phone? Will you buy an Apple Watch?Yes to the smart phone, but no to the watch... I gave up watches when smart phones were invented, why go back to them?2. Do you take performance-enhancing pills? Daily? Weekly?No pills, but protein powders to aid muscle bulk daily, does that count?3. Do you drink energy-boosters? Are they addictive?Just coffee.4. Do you combat your own mood swings with pills?No, but then no issues with mood swings.5. Does the trend to accelerating human-augmentation concern you?No, the opposite maybe, are these trends happening too slowly? If we can augment us now, should these drugs therefore be freely available?6. Will the need for ordinary jobs be eliminated? When?No, because people are cheaper than robots.7. Are these trends moving too fast? How can we stop them?Again, not fast enough and why would you want to stop them.8. How do YOU see the future unfolding?The kids will be at the forefront as always and government will be 5 years behind trying to regulate it.

1. Do you use a smart-phone? Yes Will you buy an Apple Watch? No, but one of my son's did.

2. Do you take performance-enhancing pills? No

3. Do you drink energy-boosters? No

4. Do you combat your own mood swings with pills? No

5. Does the trend to accelerating human-augmentation concern you? Yes

6. Will the need for ordinary jobs be eliminated? No

7. Are these trends moving too fast? Yes, with little forethought.

How can we stop them? I don’t think you can because majority of people don’t take the time to thank about the outcome of their actions. They look to others to do their thinking. Many from youth on, get caught-up with Power Rangers to Super Man. Sports figures use performance enhancing drugs to be Superman-like and that list goes on. This leads us to the real problem, man’s selfish attitudes to his fellowman. It’s a moral problem and it effects each person and company’s alike.

8. How do YOU see the future unfolding? Only a small number will find humble love that reaches across boundaries and feel no need to be a superman, to be better than his brother or his company to be better than all others. To have an wholesome attitude toward ones fellowman we can take advantage of technologies but not to man’s determent.

1. Do you use a smart-phone? Has it changed your habits? Will you buy an Apple Watch? No, No, No.2. Do you take performance-enhancing pills? Daily? Weekly? Never.3. Do you drink energy-boosters? Are they addictive? Never.4. Do you combat your own mood swings with pills? Never.5. Does the trend towards accelerating human-augmentation concern you? Yes, because I suspect they'll work as marijuana supposedly does: amplify highs and lows. So I suspect the augmentation will have both good and terrible effects. The results are in the application, not in the technology itself. And that's not necessarily good.6. Will the need for ordinary jobs be eliminated? When? If that goes too far, I'd expect some sort of revolution the likes of which we've never seen. The 0.01% and puppet masters would be the target.7. Are these trends moving too fast? How can we stop them? Can't be stopped - the smart people that might assist in managing the trends won't be listened to, or will be working for the military.8. How do YOU see the future unfolding? Not always a pretty picture. I'm concerned for my offspring - and yours. We're all in this together.

1. Do you use a smart-phone? Will you buy an Apple Watch? Yes...own an IPhone 6 (normal size) and am seriously considering an Apple watch when the second version is produced. I never buy the first from Apple as they seem to use it to find and fix any bugs it may contain.

2. Do you take performance-enhancing pills? Daily? Weekly? Nope not at all. I am 76 and take enough of Juice Plus pills per day which I highly recommend. Fruits, Vegetables and berry/grape products dehydrated, desalted and packaged in a capsule. Have been taking them since 1994 and never get so much as a cold.

3. Do you drink energy-boosters? Are they addictive? NO Have tried a sample or two but did not continue.

4. Do you combat your own mood swings with pills? NO. Seldom have mood swings. Found Scotch to be more effective in small quantities.

5. Does the trend to accelerating human-augmentation concern you? Somewhat does. Our body was made to perfection.....prefer to not mess with mine.

6. Will the need for ordinary jobs be eliminated? When? I doubt all will be as there will be a need for some jobs to be done that machines/robots and augmented people will not be able to perform.

7. Are these trends moving too fast? How can we stop them? Probably will stop themselves if they accelerate too fast.

8. How do YOU see the future unfolding? I took and now speak Mandarin Chinese just in case!!